Biological processes occur as the result of binding and chemical interactions between molecules inside cells. The majority of these molecules are protein structures, constructed from 20 different amino acid monomer building blocks. Each different type of protein, coded in DNA, is a unique sequence of these monomers joined into a chain. These chains fold into 3D shapes during construction and it is this final 3D structure that determines the function of the protein. Because function depends on structure, discovering the structures of viruses, proteins and other molecules is fundamental to understanding biological processes, and is an important part of discovering drugs that can inhibit or accelerate the action of specific proteins involved in disease pathways. The ability to expeditiously determine the 3D structure of molecules could thus revolutionize the process of drug development, and accelerate research into key biological processes.